Vox Uncommon’s Neighborhood

Ya gotta love this pawn shop that's trying to attract more junkie clientele.

Never a dull moment in Portland!

Junkie-monkey

After 'downsizing' to a sweet apartment with a porch, I thought my gardening days were over. But, as it turns out, I'm unable to be garden-free. The urge to tend a garden is just too strong within me, so I now have two tomato plants, a cucumber and zucchini sharing the same bucket (lord help me), an eggplant beauty, lots of herbs and flowers and two furry kitties out there enjoying the sunny porch. Yay!

Porch-flowers

Prowler

Grass-mowing

Sean thinks...

Esquire Magazine recently came out with it's list of 75 Movies Men Should See (I guess before they die or to prove their masculinity in deep party conversation about pop culture is supposed to be the tag unspoken here) and it is not a bad one.  When my friend Bill told me about it, I was skeptical. Usually, these lists consist of ever explosive and frat boy laden gag laden film out there and mostly there of the last 20 years or so. But this is not, so thought actually went into it. The list actually deep and makes sense. I will also applaud them for including such foreign fare as Fitzcarraldo and Hate. I have blogged the list here as to avoid a super long post.

The films they SHOULD NOT be on there are:

1. Iron Man - This is just a shameless attempt to seem relevant although the movie is a good one.
2. Johnny Dangerously - Bad movie then, bad movie now.
3. Gone Baby Gone - Another attempt to appear 2009 relevant.
4. The Warriors - Um, why would men benefit from this really horrid musical gang movie?
5. Tootsie - Funny film and one of the best comedies ever but I could pick a better film to talk about a man getting in touch with his feminine side than this.

Honorable Mention here goes to: Dr. No (there are better Bond flicks) and Shakes The Clown (c'mon Bobcat Goldthwait is really not that funny).

To contrast with their list, here are 30 films I would recommend to men. I will indicate if it is on their list accordingly. The numeric order has no significance.  I tried to stay away from the typical action film and tried to focus on films that had substance yet might not be on the mind of the average man today. I also wanted to challenge a male mind unfairly characterized as shallow with images and stories that either force a man to ask questions of himself or films that force you into a black and white choice on whether you loved it or hated it. How did I do?

1. Wages of Fear - A French film about men who agree to risk their lives for a good paycheck by driving trucks filled with nitroglycerin up through a windy mountain road in blazing heat.

2. The Guns Of Navarone - The Dirty Dozen concept before there was one. Great acting and great story. A group of British and Allied soldiers and resistance plan an assault on a hilltop fortress in order to silence it's guns before an invasion fleet goes by. Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quayle,  Anthony Quinn, Stanley Baker, and Richard Harris star with the addition of Irene Papas as the strongest of them all. The scene when they decide what to do with a traitor amongst them is just brilliant and jarring. 

3. The Big Country - A western which begins with sea captain Gregory Peck being brought to Texas by his financee to meet her father and see her world quickly becomes about what truly makes a strong and true man. The film becomes about what decisions a man should make and what a man should be and not what he is perceived to be by men alone. Burl Ives and Charles Bickford shine here as bitter old men focused on their own personal battle over water rights.

4. Seconds - A man, Rock Hudson in his finest role, becomes bored with his life and finds out that he can have a reboot. He embarks on a total physical make over and enjoys a life full of his secret passions only to succumb to his own regrets about what he left behind. A science fiction film that shows Hudson could actually act is really worth the watch. It challenges the idea that youth is what makes man happy and not the success of love and family.  

5.  The Commitments - A musical that revolves around a struggling Irish band who for one moment makes it to the top only to be undone by its own inner squabbling and personal agendas. A film that shows men how greatness can be achieved by teamwork and ruined by ego. And there is no breaking out into song in the middle of a dialogue...

6. Dazed and Confused - A visit to the 1970s and how the beginning of summer represents both entry into one of the most memorable periods of your life - high school - and also its exit. Told in a Robert Altman-esque way, this film shows men who they were and where their choices about their own characters can determine their direction... and it is just such a great throwback to the 1970s culture!

7. Endless Summer - The pursuit of the perfect wave takes the audience on one of the best road trips on film.

8. Gallipoli - The story of a World War I assault that went horribly wrong from the perspective of two Australians. A great film about rivalry and the importance of comaradary. Mel Gibson became known to America by this film although it is not his film entirely. Heartbreaking and thrilling, it will bring you to tears when its over.

9. Black Hawk Down - Another war tale about lost causes in battle which shakes a man's soul down to its core. Brilliant in technical delivery, the story lags a bit but over all a great film about what men are about and what truly makes them and shakes them.

10. Zulu - Probably one of the best war films ever made. The film tells the story about the battle of British troops against the Zulu Tribe in turn of the century South Africa. 140 British soldiers face 4,000 Zulus in an epic battle similar to David vs. Goliath. Brilliant in execution and suspenseful.

11. 40 Year Old Virgin - Ok I reverted to a film that came out in the last 10 years but it really works for my purposes here. It has a frat boy comedy quality but a great message about waiting to have sex. A movie about how men are only victims of popular culture and made unhappy by it.

12. The Graduate - This film is always on a list somehwere, but it really is a great film. Dustin Hoffman is our everyman who is lost in the question of who he should be, only to become trapped ultimately in what others think he should and rebelling against it to the point where he just becomes lost again.

13. Grizzly Man - A documentary about a grizzly bear activist Timothy Treadwell and his life with grizzly bears in Alaska and his subsequent death by their hand. 

14. Gunga Din - A tale of Britain's foray into Afghanistan and India which says even the smallest of men can be heroes.

15. The Man Who Would Be King - Rudyard Kipling's tale of two soldiers who become kings of a Afghan kingdom only to be downed by their own greed and their subjects xenophobia. Sean Connery and Michael Caine star. 

16. Jaws - The ultimate fishing trip. This is on Esquire's list.

17. The Killers (1944) - A film about greed, vengeance, and devotion to the wrong woman. An Ernest Hemingway short story becomes something extraordinary! Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner star.

18. M - A 1931 German film which takes on the seriel killer genre head on with great visuals and a look at society's part in both creating and catching the killer.

19. The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly - A great western about a three way rivalry for personal gain. Clint Eastwood rises as the star in his role as the man with no name. This is on Esquire's list.

20. Network - A prophetic film which was meant as a satire of television and ended up foretelling the future. "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

21. The Seven Samurai - A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves. A Japanese film by Akira Kurosawa almost every action film about a group of men since has guided itself by.

22. The Third Man - An American pulp writer arrives in post-WWII Vienna only to find that the friend who waited for him is killed under mysterious circumstances. The ensuing mystery entangles him in his friend Harry Lime's involvement in the black market, with the multinational police, and with Lime's Czech girlfriend.

23. Bullitt - The ultimate Steve McQueen film that presents the story about a San Francisco cop becomes determined to find the underworld kingpin that killed the witness in his protection. The grandaddy of car chases and a inspiration for films that followed with a silent anti-hero. 

24. White Heat - One of the best James Cagney films ever. A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. "Top of the World Ma!"

25. North By Northwest - The best action oriented James Bond film that wasn't. A Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock creation that just works. This is on Esquire's list. 

26. Cool Hand Luke - No man film list would be complete without a Paul Newman film. This is on Esquire's list.

27. This Is Spinal Tap - A great mockumentary about a band that really sucks but wants to come back anyway.

28. Theatre of Blood - A Vincent Price film which devilishly mixes horror and camp.

29. Akira - To add some anime/animation in here, this is a film which will have you decide if a genre well known for its male following is worth your time or just over-hype. A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psionic psychopath that only two kids and a group of psionics can stop.

30. Y Tu Mama Tambien - I am going to be bold here and select this 2002 film that captured Mexico's box office and had us the word "bromance" before it was invented. This sexually uninhibited film takes the viewer on a road trip with two teens (who are the best of friends from different sides of the tracks) and the woman who convinces them to take the journey.

I think this is a solid list. What do you all think?   

Sean says...

Esquire Magazine came out with it's list of 75 Things Men Should... recently. Among the lists were 75 Movies Men Should See. The movies they selected were:

1. In the Heat of the Night
2. Slap Shot
3. Iron Man
4. Jaws
5. Save the Tiger
6. Twelve Angry Men
7. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
8. Chinatown
9. The Godfather
10. Fitzcarraldo
11. Ghostbusters
12. Glory
13. Wall Street
14. Runaway Train
15. Rosemary's Baby
16. North by Northwest
17. Lone Star
18. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly*
19. The Conversation
20. The Thin Blue Line
21. Johnny Dangerously
22. The French Connection*
23. Miller's Crossing
24. The Great Escape
25. Dawn of the Dead
26. Shaun of the Dead
27. Hate
28. First Blood
29. Bottle Rocket
30. Bad Day at Black Rock
31. Tootsie
32. Broadcast News
33. The Terminator
34. Shakes the Clown
35. Dirty Harry
36. Straw Dogs
37. Raging Bull
38. Citizen Kane
39. The Shining
40. Fatal Attraction
41. The Incredibles
42. Blade Runner
43. Sling Blade
44. Giant
45. Glengarry Glen Ross
46. Serpico
47. Double Indemnity
48. Down by Law
49. The Searchers
50. Do the Right Thing
51. Gone Baby Gone
52. The Big Kahuna
53. M*A*S*H
54. The Verdict
55. The Warriors
56. Alien
57. Stalag 17
58. The Bridge on the River Kwai
59. The Misfits
60. Reservoir Dogs
61. The Maltese Falcon
62. Dr. No
63. Cool Hand Luke
64. The Road Warrior
65. Patton
66. True Romance
67. Run Silent, Run Deep
68. All Quiet on the Western Front
69. Platoon
70. Caddyshack
71. Hud
72. Blazing Saddles
73. Three Kings
74. Paths of Glory
75. On the Waterfront

Who knew that shooting this photo of Bill the Back Scratcher Man would lead to writing a story about him for a local neighborhood newsletter, which would then inspire an artist to help him realize his life-long dream of opening a back scratcher museum full of real and imaginary back scratchers?? I'm thrilled that Bill got to realize his dream!

Bill-backscratcher1

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All -

We wanted to beg forgiveness from all our fellow Voxers for being slow to update the last two months. Stefan and I have been planning the wedding and attending adoption classes during our weekends. This week we will post a few things and try and be a little long winded about our thoughts. We will admit Facebook has been an easier alternative, but the true essence of McFreed of course comes out best here.

Thanks for your patience and taunting emails!

Sean and Stefan

Sean predicts the Oscars as he does every year...

So after seeing four of the five Best Picture nominees so far, The Reader being the hold out, here are my predictions for the Oscars. I placed in parentheses an alternate choice, if I have one or am rooting for someone else. Feel free to play along....

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire (My personal choice would be Frost/Nixon.)

Best Foreign Language Film: Waltz With Bashir

Best Animated Feature: Wall-E

Best Documentary Feature: Man On Wire

Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler (Sean Penn, Milk, and Rourke deserve to tie for this award.)

Best Actress: Melissa Leo, Frozen River

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress: Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler (This is my risky pick!)

Best Original Screenplay: In Bruges

Best Adapted Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire (My personal choice would be Frost/Nixon)

Best Cinematography: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (This is a category that I use as a DVD selection criterion. This film is in a battle for the award with Slumdog Millionaire.  I split this one with Film Editing to reward both.)

Best Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire (Of any of the awards, this is the one that this film deserves the most.)

Best Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Costume Design: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Original Score: Defiance (Slumdog Millionaire deserves this award for its incredible fusion of Indian and techno music.)

Best Sound Editing: The Dark Knight

Best Sound Mixing: The Dark Knight

Best Visual Effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Original Song: "Down To Earth", Peter Gabriel, Wall-E

Best Animated Short Film:  This Way Up

Best Short Live Action Short Film: Spielzeugland (Toyland) (Manon On The Asphalt sounds promising though... hard to figure out who deserves these things when you can't watch them unless you buy them first.)

Best Makeup: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

January 20th, 2009. What a day. At 8:30 in the morning I walked to my neighborhood cafe to watch the inauguration. It was such a moving experience, being there in a standing-room-only crowd of folks watching breathlessly as the events unfolded in Washington. I have never, ever felt pride for this country, but it filled me from head to toe on that morning.

obama

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